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Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the four new members were inducted via videoconference on Friday. A face-to-face induction ceremony will be held at a future date to be determined.

The Academy was established in 2012 to foster improved teaching and learning and educational innovation across the UT System and to promote educational discourse and initiatives across the state of Texas.

Here are the 2020 inductees to the Academy of Distinguished Teachers:

Martine Ceberio

Martine Ceberio, professor of computer science at UT El Paso, obtained her PhD in computer science from the University of Nantes, France in 2003. Her research focuses on developing tools to generate reliable information about otherwise uncertain situations, such as an unfolding epidemic. Ceberio is passionate about teaching, mentoring and broadening participation in computer science. She founded the ACM-W (Association for Computing Machinery's Council on Women in Computing) student chapter at UT El Paso, a student organization that promotes women in the field of computer science. Since 2018, she has led a Google-funded program at UT El Paso that introduces female undergraduates to research in computing.

Colin Charlton

Colin Charlton, professor and chair of the Department of Writing & Language Studies at UT Rio Grande Valley, received his PhD in English from Purdue University in 2005. Now, he leads an innovative and diverse group of faculty, teaching language acquisition, linguistics, rhetoric, translation and interpretation, and writing. His recent pedagogical work includes contributing to a Center for Teaching Excellence workshop series on peer observation and working with an interdisciplinary UTRGV team to create a Vaqueros Innovator Program curriculum for first-year college students without prior college hours. In 2015, he received the UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, primarily for his work with first-year writing students and faculty to develop successful teaching strategies for threshold writing concepts and transfer.

Jessica Murphy

Jessica Murphy, professor of literary studies and dean of Undergraduate Education at UT Dallas, earned her PhD in English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and joined UT Dallas in 2009. She was appointed dean of Undergraduate Education in 2017. Murphy’s commitment to excellence in the classroom has garnered her several teaching awards, including the UT Dallas Special Faculty Development Award in 2015-2016, the UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award in 2013, and the UT Dallas Distinguished Teacher in Diversity and Multicultural Education Award in 2011.

Carolyn Seepersad

Carolyn Seepersad, professor of mechanical engineering and general dynamics faculty fellow at UT Austin, received her PhD in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 2004. Her research involves the development of methods and computational tools for engineering design and additive manufacturing. Seepersad has earned many awards for her research and teaching, including the 2009 International Outstanding Young Researcher Award in Freeform and Additive Manufacturing, the 2010 UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the 2010 Outstanding Young Investigator Award from the ASME Design Automation Committee, and the 2013 ASEE Outstanding New Mechanical Engineering Educator Award.

“The UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers has selected four phenomenal new members this year from a highly qualified pool of candidates,” said Steve Leslie, PhD, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “It is a privilege to recognize these educators’ contribution to the classroom and student success at their universities. They join a stellar community of the UT System’s best teachers and will add their voices to strengthening teaching and equipping students with the critical skills and abilities to be successful at our institutions and in the world beyond.”

The Academy’s latest book, “The Little Orange Book II: Student Voices on Excellent Teaching,” features students’ and university presidents’ essays on the qualities that make a teacher great. This book is available for purchase through UT Press.

More information can be found on the UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers website.

About The University of Texas System

For more than 130 years, The University of Texas System has been committed to improving the lives of Texans and people all over the world through education, research and health care. With 14 institutions, an enrollment of nearly 240,000 students and an operating budget of $21.1 billion (FY 2020), the UT System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. UT institutions produce more than 60,000 graduates annually and award more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees and more than half of its health professional degrees. Collectively, UT-owned and affiliated hospitals and clinics accounted for more than 8.2 million outpatient visits and 1.6 million hospital days last year. Across UT institutions, research and development expenditures total $2.9 billion – the highest in Texas and second highest in the nation among public higher education systems – and the UT System is regularly ranked among the top 10 most innovative universities in the world. The UT System also is one of the largest employers in Texas, with more than 21,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates and members of the National Academies – and more than 83,000 health care professionals, researchers and support staff.